Brave Soundwave
by ThunderScythe
Summary: Written for the winner of the Skyxstar club contest on DA. After all that Soundwave has to go through, he should get a vacation.


i"I wonder why he does that..."/i

i"If only I had wings!"/i

i"Oh Primus I love it when he does that with my-"/i

i"If I were leader we wouldn't be here still!"/i

i"This whole situation is pointless."/i

i"Why do I even bother anymore?"/i

i"He's not watching is he?"/i

The thoughts of the others were forced back into the depths of his cranium as he booted up and came online. Soundwave's telepathy retreating back into a passive mode but the sensor ache it made was still throbbing full force making the blue mech groan as he sat up on his berth.

Every solar rotation, it just seemed to be getting worse and worse like something major was going to happen. The thoughts of the others on the ship bombarded him in his recharge and he could do little to hold them back, their emotions and sensations ripping into him. The peaceful ease of being online only calmed his overactive processors for so long.

"Hey hand me that paint tube, will ya?"

The things he had to deal with while being online did not help much either.

"Make sure it doesn't dry or else it won't dump out correctly."

His audios picked up his cassettes chatter even from across his quarters, the two huddled together and whispering.

"Careful...careful! There. Alright let's get this out and in the- oh slag! Uh, hey boss." Rumble and Frenzy stood side by side with their hands behind their backs, hiding their creation.

"Cursing: Undesirable." Soundwave said and Rumble grinned.

"Ah, sorry boss, I'll remember that next time."

"Pranking: Undesirable."

Frenzy jerked like he got shocked before laughing. "Aw Soundwave! Boss! You wound us! We would never prank! Would we Rumble?"

Rumble grinned like he stole high grade from Swindle and got away with it. "Of course not! We know better!" The two cassettes shared a look, "Besides the big mech himself was looking for ya, you better get moving."

If that was true then he had better things to worry about than the twins' pranks. Making a dismissive noise, Soundwave stood and headed out for the main room where Megatron and Starscream were likely waiting.

Rumble and Frenzy waited until the door shut before snickering and getting back to their own work.

"This is ridiculous! The plan's stupid! You're-!" Starscream complained while tromping around the room and Megatron shot him a look.

"I'm iwhat/i, Starscream?"

The seeker froze before correcting himself, "Ah, ibrilliant/i! Absolutely astounding, iLord/i Megatron." he purred and Megatron huffed.

"And don't you forget it."

Soundwave walked in and Megatron smirked.

"Ah, Soundwave."

"What took you so long? My wings were beginning to rust!" Starscream whined.

"Quiet you fool!" Megatron hissed to the seeker before turning his attention back to the blue mech. "Soundwave, any report from Ravage from the Autobot base?"

"Autobots: Overcharged from victory party." Soundwave detailed after a moments pause.

"Now would be the best time to attack, Megatron! They're weak!" Starscream said, wings shifting up.

"You're an idiot, Starscream." Megatron grumbled, "So you seriously think I would attack Prime while he has a hangover?"

"Yes!"

"No, I will steal all the energy from this planet and leave them in the dust while I regain Cybertron!" Megatron stood from his seat and shoved Starscream. "Rally the troops! We're heading out!"

"I told him it was a bad idea but listen to me? Fah! He'd more listen to a sparkless drone than listen to me!" Starscream grumbled as he repaired his injured arm, sparks flying from the tool he used when they made contact.

Laserbeak sat up on a high shelf, watching with extreme stillness and unblinking optics as the mech ranted.

"One day I will rule the Decepticons and they will finally be victorious!" he raised his arm to shake his fist, "I'll get you Megatr- slag!" sparks shot out of his arm and a few wires broke before he cradled it to his chest.

"That's alright." The red seeker purred to himself as he got up to fetch some spare wiring. "I have my plan all set out and in course. All that fool has to do is be baited and led in and then I will reign supreme!" He fisted the wires with his other hand as he threw his head back and laughed- pausing as he spotted Laserbeak.

"You! You spying little cretin! Get out!" He shot at the bird with his null rays but Laserbeak was already flying through the opening doors and into the hall. "I'll get you Soundwave! And your little bird too!"

Soundwave sighed as he collected the data from Laserbeak and stored it into a datapad for later reviewing. The seeker was a fool to even think of betraying Megatron but let him scheme, it would only hurt himself in the end.

Laserbeak cawed and Soundwave put a finger under the cassette's chin, giving the bird a thankful stroke and a churring noise escaped the cassette. Buzzsaw, watching from above, swooped down and landed beside Laserbeak, nipping at a wing and nudging at Soundwave's hand for his own attention. Another sigh escaped him as his two birds started fighting and he obtained a spray bottle from subspace and misted them until they stopped. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw flew to different corners to shake and fluff their metal feathered armour, drying themselves.

It was then that Soundwave noticed Rumble and Frenzy missing. He put a hand to his face as he remembered earlier and stood to go track them down. He paused before dismissing Ratbat from his chest; always good to have a moderator to watch Laserbeak and Buzzsaw while they were in a mood.

It took a few hall searching and some stares from the other mechs on board before he tracked the twins down and he mentally frowned when he paused in front of Starscream's lab. After so soon from being discovered spying on the mech, the seeker wouldn't like his presence in the least but if Rumble and Frenzy were in there causing havoc he needed to enter.

It was a simple matter of entering his code, seeing how Megatron liked abusing Starscream and made his lab public access, before the doors opened and he walked in, the seeker busy patching up his arm still while grumbling to himself to notice.

However after a quick look around, Soundwave did not spot either of his cassettes but it seemed that Starscream had spotted him.

"You!" the red seeker shrieked. "How dare you! I will be the leader of the Decepticons and not even you can stop me!"

Soundwave stared, unimpressed, with his usual look. "Starscream: Full of Himself."

"Oh?" Starscream smirked. "Yes, maybe. But you'll be in pieces after I'm done with you!" The door suddenly shut and locked behind Soundwave and Starscream chuckled. "I had this planned and saved up for Megatron but if I get you out of the picture first then destroying him will be that much easier!"

Smacking a button on his panel that lined the back wall, Starscream cackled as a monster crashed through the wall and grabbed Soundwave with its mechanical tentacles. Soundwave tried to rip himself free but it seemed useless as the appendages seemed too strong to break.

"Yes, yes! Struggle!" Starscream crowed, "It likes the feisty ones. Makes it that much more fun to tear apart!"

Soundwave settled for relaxing back and allowing himself to be wrapped up by the monstrous machine. If it liked them squirmy then perhaps being still would bore it...then he could shoot Starscream for being an idiot and creating such a thing.

Starscream walked along the side of the room, smirking and wings propped up high. "Scared Soundwave? Did the fight in you die that quickly? I had thought that perhaps you would struggle at least a bit more before realizing that you were doomed." the seeker sighed and waved a hand, "But you always were the smart one among us, weren't you? Yes, it seemed you knew just about everything about everyone." He grinned, "Now look at you. Pathetic."

"Starscream: Needs hobby." Soundwave droned and pulled his face away when a curious tentacle wiggled against his helm crest.

"I'll have leading the Decepticons as an active hobby when Megatron is defeated!" Starscream growled.

"Yeah but for now you'll just have to settle with being a medbay trophy." A voice teased from the back of the room and the two mechs looked over to see Frenzy grinning from the open vent, holding a bucket of paint.

"What on Cybertron are you doing? Get lost!" Starscream hollered before realizing just where the vent was situated... right above his control panels. "Don't you dare you germ!"

Frenzy sniffed. "Well just for that I'll do this iand/i steal your high grade from your quarters." He tipped the bucket over and the sticky liquid went splat onto the panel, seeping into the hardware and circuitry.

"No!" Starscream shouted when smoke started coming from the machine.

"Oh yeah!" Rumble appeared from another vent and landed on the now malfunctioning machine, his pile drivers hammering into the tentacles holding Soundwave and they fell loose, Soundwave landing on his feet and Rumble in his arms.

"Nice catch, boss." Rumble mused.

Starscream shrieked a wordless cry and aimed his null rays at Soundwave. "I can still finish you off! You're never defy your second in command again!" His weapons fired up but Soundwave just shot him with his shoulder cannon, dropping the seeker onto his back with a groan.

The panel exploded and Frenzy cried out from the vent, Soundwave looking from the panel to the monster and realizing it too was going to combust.

"Frenzy: Return." Soundwave ordered and the cassette jumped over as quickly as he could and once in hand, Soundwave fled the room, the empty sector and then locking down the controls, activating the pressure controls to protect the rest of the ship.

An explosion racked the sector and the cassettes clung to Soundwave as he held onto the wall as the entire ship vibrated from the blast. Surely a good sized hole would now be in Starscream's lab but the rest of the ship was safe and the seeker would eventually be sucked out and would float to the surface.

Sometimes being lighter than the average mech was a good thing for the seeker. After he surfaced his trinemates could go retrieve him and take him to medical but for now, Soundwave needed to report to Megatron. A processor ache came to him at what he had to explain and endure until the unforeseeable future and decided to take his cassettes back to their quarters first. No need for them to have to listen to Megatron ramble.

"You know boss," Rumble said as they walked, "We should get like a promotion or something for this."

"Yeah," Frenzy agreed. "Maybe you can finally be second now instead of Starscream. It's not like he's putting the title to good use."

The thought of being beaten around instead of Starscream made Soundwave shudder. "Position: Undesired."

Rumble grinned, "Well at least we can still have the benefits of it."

Frenzy threw a hand up, "Party at Soundwave's! High grade's brought to you by Starscream."

"Negative."

"Killjoy." Frenzy sniffed.

"But we still get the high grade, right?" Rumble asked, hopeful.

"Affirmative."

Frenzy and Rumble shared a high five.


End file.
